1. [It is not a terrible ghost who can make a person who has sinned and become an evil ghost return to human beings at the last moment, nor is it a god of death who has many souls, only a person who cuts off the soul and saves that soul.] No matter how many sinners' heads are beheaded, one must not lose one's sense of redemption – this is the lesson of the former Korei executioner, Ikeda Yaemon.

The method of 'soul washing' that we use in our executions is the embodiment of this spirit. In order not to get their heads dirty, we just take their lives and carefully send their souls to heaven...... After being adopted by my master, I have always been a public executioner, and I have been following the teachings and punishing countless sinners with the sword in my hand.

But that day, when I had to execute my master, who was found to have released a prisoner from death row without permission, I ...... Suddenly I don't understand. What is sin? What are sanctions? Because that sinner is a law-like existence to me. If you can't forget everything and turn into a demon, you can't cut it down, and you can't let the most important person return to being a human when you die.

I gave up my life not for the sake of the Ikeda family, but because I knew that I was the evil demon who deserved to be punished. Please let me know...... Is my master really a sinner who has committed a heinous crime and is not sorry to die? 】

The day after the meeting with Tokugawa Shigeru, the general of Seiyi, Kenshin Kinkmura began to protect the shogun as promised, and Riz left the Kamiya Dojo early and returned to the Fortuna. After spending the night in custody, Ikeda finally tells her about her past and explains why she asked a stranger to help her with her mistakes.

Leaz, who was sitting on the sofa, said with a listless look similar to Afu Rabbit: "All in all, it is an executioner girl who has been instilled with quirk beliefs and has no idea the nature of her work, and when she executed her adoptive father who broke the law, she did not exert her due strength because of the love between father and daughter, which made her adoptive father's head fall to the ground, and thus began to question her beliefs, and finally felt that she was guilty and might as well die?" ”

"Why did you get like that!?" Shouted towards the Uemon.

"Huh? Am I getting it wrong? Liz didn't answer the rhetorical question.

"All! …… Big, probably ......" When Asaemon wanted to list and explain, he suddenly found that he couldn't talk about it, and he couldn't even say anything about it, and his fair face turned red.

"The teachings of your Ikeda family~" Liz began to try to solve the psychological problem of the Grim Reaper girl who sought to make a mistake to herself, of course, as always, she started with a mental blow, "I'm sorry, you can ask so many people present, who can accept that set of rhetoric that is very cool, but the content is comparable to religious teaching~"

"Killing is killing, how can it become saving souls?" Zhang Jing said bluntly.

"It's boring, your head can't fall to the ground, this kind of thing doesn't matter at all." Murong Jiu's words were a bit impolite.

“…… It is not the soul of the sinner that is truly redeemed, but the soul of the executor. Wang Yuanji shook her head.

"Can this really be called 'redemption'......" Liu Mengli sighed lightly.

"The soul is not purified by death." Sakiya's answer is much more professional.

"If you cut quickly with a sword, you will suffer less when you die, and your work is great...... "Nightshade, who was once burned alive in the sword-forging furnace, tried to encourage him.

Asamito didn't say a word, just lowered her head and clenched her fists, she grew up in Ikeda's family, and she was destined to have a little gap between her values and ordinary people, and Zhang Jing and others represented the views of ordinary people that she could understand, but she couldn't accept.

Liz disagreed, and continued: "Besides, the executioner is the executioner, just the executioner, why do you carry the black cauldron of the legislator and other law enforcers? Do you really know what your job is about? ”

"What does the job do?" Asamimon wondered.

"Suppose that his crime was 'insulting the shogun behind his back', and the law at the time was 'death for those who insulted the shogun', then he would have to die, but if the law at that time was 'fine for insulting the shogun', then he didn't have to die—yes, the 'law' was made by people, and the death of criminals, including your adoptive father, was affected by the laws made by the shogunate's legislators in addition to their own actions." Whether or not it is a heinous crime sometimes depends on whether you are looking at it from the shogunate's point of view, or from your personal point of view. ”

“……！” Asaemon finally remembered the last question he had asked when he was thinking about it, and he realized what point Leeds was conveying.

Liz clapped his hands and woke up with a loud sound to Amiemon, "In addition, the police who arrest the prisoners and the police who interrogate the prisoners are the ones who bring the criminals to death compared to you executioners, and you are at best carrying out the most superficial and dirty part of the work." Even if the criminal turns into a powerful revenge, he will not give priority to your trouble. ”

"So, what are we holding on to!? Father, what did he die for! "Under Leeds' 'Flying Edgeworth-Dragon's Mouth Flash', cracks began to appear in Asaemon's faith.

"Glory, wealth, status, people, such things?" Doesn't the Ikeda family say it all? And the teachings you said at the beginning. "Beyond the material there is also spiritual faith.

“！！！” Asaemon easily accepted this point of view, wasn't she just for the sake of her family, and she was adrift outside on the charge of killing her adoptive father? It is normal for people who have grown up in a large family to have a strong sense of family in their hearts.

"Alright, that's the end of the psychotherapy for the immature executioner," Liz felt that he had already said what he had to say, and he couldn't help it if he was still thinking about suicide, "I have something else to ask you about now." ”

“…… What, what ......? "It's clear that Asaemon hasn't completely gotten out of the previous topic.

"If you cut off someone's head and take someone's life, but you can keep the head from falling off and the epidermis heals back, that's the 'soul washing' of your Ikeda family, right?" Liz also once had a good time, it was really a miraculous technique, the key is that this is still pure knife skills, not mixed with any abilities.

"There are now people all over Edo who have been killed by the method of 'soul washing', and after investigation, it has been revealed that they are all heroes who participated in the Battle of Sister Furuhara, which led to the defeat of the fierce general Hitotsubashi Saidong. Someone who had already been purged has suddenly found himself assassinated in the streets—who else in the Ikeda family will 'wash their souls'? ”